What is Jussie Smollett's Hate Crime Allegation?

It is the January 29th, 2019 report from Empire actor Jussie Smollett that two men attacked him in Chicago with a rope, a chemical liquid and shouts of racial and homophobic slurs, an incident Chicago police later said he had staged[1].

Where did Jussie Smollett's Hate Crime Allegation come from?

Smollett filed the report at Northwestern Hospital in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago on the morning of January 29th, 2019, after which the story spread through outlets including CNN, TMZ, ABC and HuffPost[1].

What does Jussie Smollett's Hate Crime Allegation mean?

Online, the name became shorthand for a suspected staged or fake hate crime, especially after Chicago police accused Smollett of paying two brothers $3,500 to fake the attack[7].

How do you use Jussie Smollett's Hate Crime Allegation?

People typically invoke the name in comment threads and tweets to cast doubt on new hate-crime claims, or resurface the original #JusticeForJussie celebrity tweets as a joke about premature solidarity[2].

Is Jussie Smollett's Hate Crime Allegation still popular?

The case is still referenced as the go-to example when a suspicious hate-crime story goes viral, and Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan built jokes around it as early as spring 2019[9].

Who are the Osundairo brothers?

Abimbola 'Abel' and Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo are Nigerian-American brothers, one a former Empire extra, who were arrested at Chicago O'Hare on February 14th, 2019 and later told police Smollett had paid them to stage the attack[5].

What was the 'This is MAGA country' line?

TMZ reported that Smollett said his attackers yelled 'This is MAGA country,' a detail Chicago police initially had no record of and only added to a supplemental report after a follow-up interview with him[3].

How many charges did Smollett face?

A Cook County grand jury returned a 16-count felony indictment for disorderly conduct on March 8th, 2019, all of which prosecutors dropped on March 26th in exchange for community service and forfeiture of his $10,000 bond[8].

Why is the case controversial?

The Cook County State's Attorney's decision to drop all 16 counts drew a 'no confidence' vote from the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police against Kim Foxx and public condemnation from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Superintendent Eddie Johnson[9].

Jussie Smollett's Hate Crime Allegation

Q: How much was Smollett paid on Empire?

HuffPost reported that Smollett was paid $65,000 per episode on Empire, and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Smollett staged the attack because he was 'dissatisfied' with that salary[7].

2019eventclassic

Published September 3, 2026

In January 2019, Empire actor Jussie Smollett told Chicago police that two masked men attacked him with a rope, bleach and shouts of 'This is MAGA country,' setting off a national #JusticeForJussie wave before investigators concluded he had staged the assault himself. The whiplash from viral hate-crime story to alleged hoax turned Smollett's name into shorthand for suspected fake attacks across meme culture.

hoax memes scandal memes culture war memes hashtag memes backfire memes

Overview

Jussie Smollett's Hate Crime Allegation, also known as Justice For Jussie, refers to the January 2019 police report from the Empire actor claiming two men beat him, tied a rope around his neck, poured a chemical on him and yelled 'This is MAGA country' on a Chicago street1. The story spread across news outlets and Twitter within hours, then flipped over the next three weeks as Chicago detectives said Smollett had paid two brothers to fake the attack7.

The meme side of the story is less an image format and more a running punchline. Once the hoax narrative broke, 'Jussie Smollett' became internet shorthand for any suspected staged hate crime, and #JusticeForJussie mutated from earnest hashtag into a sarcastic tag used to mock the original supporters7. Reaction posts on r/HateCrimeHoaxes, r/news and Twitter piled on with screencaps of the Chicago PD press conference, jokes about the $3,500 check and edits of the surveillance-camera 'persons of interest' stills3.

What kept the story alive as a meme was the whiplash: A-list celebrities, sitting senators and major networks had already gone on record backing Smollett, so the receipts from that 24-hour window kept getting resurfaced whenever a new hate-crime allegation later drew skepticism2. The case is still referenced by name in comedy sets and news commentary when a suspicious attack goes viral.

Origin & Background

Platform

Chicago news reporting / Twitter (viral spread)

Date

2019

On the morning of January 29th, 2019, Jussie Smollett walked into Northwestern Hospital in Chicago and told police he had been jumped around 2 a.m. by two people who shouted racial and homophobic slurs, wrapped a rope around his neck and poured 'an unknown chemical substance' on him1. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said a dozen detectives, working with the FBI, were reviewing hundreds of hours of surveillance video from the Streeterville neighborhood but had not yet found footage of the offenders1.

TMZ published a follow-up the same day adding that the attackers had yelled 'This is MAGA country,' a detail Chicago police initially told Reason they had no record of before amending the report to include it after a second interview with Smollett3. HuffPost editor Philip Lewis's tweet of the original police statement pulled more than 8,100 retweets in 24 hours and became the seed post most other outlets quoted from9.

How It Spread

Within a day, celebrities including Taraji P. Henson, Janet Jackson, Cher, Ellen DeGeneres and Kerry Washington were tweeting support, and lawmakers such as Maxine Waters weighed in as the #JusticeForJussie hashtag trended2. The official Empire Instagram posted a 20th Century Fox Television statement that picked up more than 168,000 likes in 24 hours, and Empire co-creator Lee Daniels filmed an emotional video defending Smollett9. ABC News aired a sit-down interview with Smollett on February 14th in which he pushed back on skeptics and explained why he had refused to hand over his phone records9.

The story turned that same week. On February 14th, ABC7 Chicago sources said police were investigating whether Smollett and two 'persons of interest,' one an Empire extra, had staged the attack because he was being written off the show, a claim Fox denied as 'patently ridiculous'4. The Daily Mail named the two men as Nigerian brothers Abimbola 'Abel' and Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo, arrested at O'Hare on their return from Nigeria5. Deadline reported on February 16th that the case was now 'based on the premise that Mr. Smollett was an active participant in the incident,' with CBS Chicago adding that one brother had bought the rope at Smollett's request and that the pair were paid $3,500 up front and promised $500 more6.

On February 20th, Guglielmi tweeted that Smollett had been classified as a suspect, and the actor turned himself in the next morning7. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Smollett had staged the assault because he was 'dissatisfied with his salary' of $65,000 per episode and had first mailed himself a threatening letter7. A grand jury handed down 16 felony counts on March 8th, but on March 26th Cook County prosecutors abruptly dropped every charge in exchange for community service and bond forfeiture, a decision Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Superintendent Johnson publicly condemned8.

How to Use This Meme

The name is typically dropped as a reference rather than a template. Common conventions include tagging suspicious new hate-crime reports with 'Jussie Smollett vibes,' quoting 'This is MAGA country' in scare quotes, or replying to celebrity solidarity tweets with screencaps of the 2019 #JusticeForJussie posts to point out the earlier reaction7. On subreddits such as r/HateCrimeHoaxes the case is often used as the benchmark example when discussing later staged-attack claims7.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (9)